Last year, the United States witnessed one of the worst flu seasons in years, according to the CDC:

“The 2017-2018 influenza season was a high severity season with high levels of outpatient clinic and emergency department visits for influenza-like illness (ILI), high influenza-related hospitalization rates, and elevated and geographically widespread influenza activity for an extended period. In 2017, CDC began using new methodology to classify seasonal severity and applied the methodology to the 2003-2004 through 2016-2017 seasons. The 2017-18 season was the first season to be classified as a high severity across all age groups…”

“During the 2017-2018 season, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was at or above the epidemic threshold for 16 consecutive weeks. During the past five seasons, the average number of weeks this indicator was above threshold was 11 (range of 7 to 15 weeks). Nationally, mortality attributed to P&I exceeded 10.0% for four consecutive weeks, peaking at 10.8% during the week ending January 20, 2018…”

“As of October 27, 2018, a total of 185 pediatric deaths had been reported to CDC during the 2017-2018 season. This number exceeds the previously highest number of flu-associated deaths in children reported during a regular flu season (171 during the 2012-2013 season). Approximately 80% of these deaths occurred in children who had not received a flu vaccination this season.”

One of the reasons given for last year’s high flu epidemic was the fact that the vaccine was less effective than in previous years. It takes at least 11 months to create and produce a vaccine and in that time frame, the major flu strains had changed, leaving the vaccine less effective. The same does not apply to this year’s vaccine. Reports of flu outbreaks are less this year than last, but at least one flu-related death has been reported this year.

Nevertheless, the flu viruses (there are always several strains making the rounds) and cold viruses still abound at this time of year. The older we get, the more susceptible we become to these viruses. We tend to shy away from others who are sick or those who are coughing or sneezing, but what about things they touch? How long do flu and cold viruses remain in a contagious state on these surfaces?

First of all, allow me to explain what a virus is. Basically, a virus is a non-living strand of RNA or DNA that is encased in a viral sheaf called a capsid. In many flu or cold viruses, the capsid is covered by an additional membrane, similar to the membrane that surrounds living cells. The reason a virus is not considered to be alive is that they cannot replicate themselves. They must penetrate a living cell and then hijack the cell’s genetic materials in order replicate. Once enough have replicated, they either leave the cell or burst the cell open, where they are free to infect more cells and so on.

Once inside a warm moist host, viruses seem to be very hardy, but outside the body, they become weak and are easily destroyed. Some say that these viruses survive on surfaces like doorknobs for days, but in reality, that’s both true and untrue.

You can infect a doorknob with a flu virus and then take a swab off that doorknob 4-5 days later and be able to grow a culture of the virus in the lab. However, what is cultured comes from the remaining strands of RNA or DNA, but the ability to be contagious after 4-5 days is long gone. It takes a fully intact virus to be contagious, but the DNA and RNA remnants cannot infect a person.

Check out this report:

“Influenza viruses may actually have a much shorter infectious lifespan, based on more recent work by virologist Dr. Jane Greatorex at Public Health England. In a 2011 study, her team took two strains of influenza A and analyzed how long they remained infectiousness on a variety of common surfaces. After nine hours, viable viruses were no longer found on most non-porous metal and plastic surfaces, such as aluminum and computer keyboards. On porous items, like soft toys, clothes and wooden surfaces, viable viruses disappeared after four hours.”

The problem you face when out in public is that you don’t know how much time has taken place since an infected person touched that doorknob or handle on a shopping cart. When you reach for the door handle or shopping cart while out in public, how much of a gambler are you that it’s been more than 5 hours since an infected person touched them before you?